Noel Gallagher is putting his past behind him, releasing a new solo album, ruling out a reunion with his brother Liam and even being nice about one-time arch-rivals Blur.

Oasis split five years ago after nearly two decades of fractious sibling rivalry between guitarist Noel and his younger brother Liam, the band’s frontman.

“I haven’t seen him for about five months but we text quite a lot. It’s usually him insulting me,” laughs Gallagher, during an interview with AFP in London.

Liam’s post-Oasis band Beady Eye recently broke up as well but he is quick to dismiss any suggestion of a reunion with his 42-year-old brother. “The answer is no,” he says.

His new album “Chasing Yesterday”, his second since the band split, is released on March 2 and features his signature combination of layered guitars and elliptical lyrics.

The star is full of enthusiasm for the life of a solo artist, perhaps recalling the arguments and dramas which accompanied Oasis’s global success, selling 60 million albums and scoring hits like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger”.

“It’s more rewarding, it’s more fulfilling. I like being in charge of everything,” he says. “I just write songs and I collect the songs together and I make an album out of them.”

Best singers are ‘wild animals’

Gallagher is now a 47-year-old family man with three children who is more likely to be found watching his beloved Manchester City than indulging a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

His legendary bile towards musicians whose work he does not rate has not diminished with age.

“Beyonce, not for me. My wife loves her but she’s got no taste. Katy Perry? Even my daughter hates her and she’s 15. Sam Smith? Not for me,” he says.

Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Oasis, released on February 28, 2000. In 1999, the year preceding the final release of this album, Oasis had lost two founding members (Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan) and hired a new producer (Mark "Spike" Stent). As a result of these changes, the album's tone was more experimental, with electronica and psychedelic influences. The darker feeling and psychedelic tone of this album is a departure from earlier Britpop-influenced Oasis records.

Songs such as the Indian-influenced "Who Feels Love?", the progressive "Gas Panic!" and the electronica "Go Let It Out" depart from Oasis' old Britpop style. The album was the sixth fastest selling album in UK chart history, selling over 310,000 copies in its first week. Despite becoming their fourth number one album in the UK, it is one of the band's lowest-selling albums, selling only 3 million copies worldwide.

Trivia

The album's title was taken from the words of Sir Isaac Newton: "If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants". Noel Gallagher saw the quote on the side of a £2 coin whilst in a pub and liked it so much he thought it would be a suitable name for Oasis' new album. He then wrote the name on the side of a cigarette packet whilst drunk. When he awoke in the morning, he realised he had written "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants — A Bum Title".

Due to the departure of Bonehead and Guigsy from the band whilst the album was in production, their parts had to be re-recorded, for legal reasons. Thus, the album only features the Gallagher brothers and Alan White. The sleeve of the album also features them.

The first track, "Fuckin' in the Bushes", is featured on the soundtrack for the film Snatch, and is regularly used in introductions for high-tempo events, due to its quick tempo and loud volume.

In the April 2006 issue of Q magazine, the album was the only Oasis record to feature in a countdown of the "50 worst albums of all time". It was placed at number 46 and described as "the low point of their fallow years", despite the fact that the album had been favourably reviewed in the magazine at its time of release and featured in the magazine's "50 Best Albums of 2000" list. In response to the Q feature, Noel has said, "Even though it wasn't our finest hour, it's a good album born through tough times. I worked harder on that album than anything before and anything since."

A notable B-Side was Lets All Make Believe. This song was on the Go Let It Out single and is said to be one of the bands finest songs. Q Magazine declared it the greatest ever "lost" track in the February 2007 issue and said that if it was on the album it would have carried "an extra star" on the review. Q gave this album 4 Stars back in 2000, meaning an extra star would be 5 stars. So with Lets All Make Believe on the album, according to Q magazine's logic, SOTSOG would have been a 5 star classic.

A bootleg of demo sessions recorded for this album was leaked onto the internet in January 2000. Most of these songs were recorded by Noel Gallagher with the help of a couple of friends in his home studio at Supernova Heights and at Oasis' own Wheeler End Studios complex. All of the songs, apart from "Little James", were sung by Noel.

At the time of the leak, four songs ("Carry Us All", "Revolution Song", "Just Getting Older" and "Let There Be Love") were not scheduled for release on either the album or as B-sides on the new single "Go Let It Out". These songs were also completely undocumented, apart from "Revolution Song", which had been mentioned by author Paolo Hewitt in his 1999 book Forever the People — Six Months on the Road with Oasis. As such, these four songs had made-up titles based on commonly-repeated phrases mentioned in the songs. Whilst "Carry Us All" and "Just Getting Older" were correctly guessed, the other two tracks were given titles which, in time, would prove to be incorrect. "Revolution Song" was given the title "Solve My Mystery" and "Let There Be Love" was given the title "It's a Crime". "Let There Be Love" was released on Don't Believe the Truth. Because Noel mentioned in a February 23, 2000 interview with Melody Maker magazine that "Revolution Song" had been demoed — but not released because Blur had recently released a similar sounding song — it can be assumed that these titles are correct.

Fans in the UK can watch here Noel Gallagher on The Graham Norton Show here on the BBC iPlayer, those outside the UK I will look for another alternative ASAP and make a separate post as and when I find it.

Noel Gallagher has said his brother Liam went "berserk" at the height of Oasis' fame because he was too young to handle it.

Speaking about Liam in an interview in The Times newspaper, Noel said: "At the age of 19 he left my mum's house, got on the train to London and moved in with Patsy Kensit. I still feel ... the word's not sorry for him, but with all the madness that went on in the 90s I could deal with it because I knew what it was like to be normal, and I was driving everything in an artistic way. People were asking Liam about songwriting in interviews and he didn't have a clue. I think that's why he went berserk."

He added "He's (Liam's) just one of those guys, and we all know them: the kind who couldn't care less if things are working or not because they're off sh***ing some bird. When I was growing up there was always some 50-year-old mod guy who swaggered up in the park and said, 'All right, knobheads?' That could have been Liam. He's not a grafter. He walks on air. He needs people like me, worrying about the amps sound and so on."

But blackboard from cover of classic B-sides album The Masterplan fetches £1,400

The first demo tape ever recorded by Oasis has failed to sell at auction.

The cassette recording went under the hammer in Cheshire this week alongside an NME award which Noel Gallagher famously threw away.

But punters did not match the £1,000 reserve price for the historic tape, or the £5,000 tag for the award.

There was far more interest in another piece of the band’s history, however. The original blackboard that features in the classroom cover of the classic B-sides album The Masterplan was sold for £1,400 - far more than the £800 reserve.

The auctioneers say that since the sale on Wednesday, there’s been fresh interest in the demo tape and award from new potential buyers.

The collection of Oasis memorabilia went under the hammer at Omega Auctions in Warrington on Wednesday.

The sale featured the band’s first ever demo cassette recorded in late 1991 and Jan 1992 with Noel’s handwriting on the labels.

It was given to Terry Christian by Noel in 1992 while he was having dinner in Don Giovanni’s in Manchester.

The cassette features early studio demos on one side and an early gig on the B-side from The Boardwalk.

Noel Gallagher famously threw away the NME award in 1995/96 in response to the magazine’s editor failing to acknowledge the death of Rob Collins, keyboard player with The Charlatans.

Karen Fairweather, auctioneer at Omega Auctions, said that neither item reached its reserve price, but the Masterplan blackboard sold for £1,400.

The biggest seller of the day was a piano played by White Stripes frontman Jack White, which was picked up for £5,000.

A collection of framed 1960s promo photographs featuring The Kinks and other icons sold for £700.

Former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher says he has never had “one serious offer” to get his old band back together.

The musician, who walked out of Oasis in 2009 after regular rows with his lead singer brother Liam, was responsible for most of the band’s hits including Live Forever and Wonderwall.

He told The Times: “Given all the rumours, I haven’t had one serious offer for a reunion gig.”

Last year, Liam sparked stories the band were getting back together with a series of cryptic tweets that led one bookmaker to suspend betting on the band playing the Somerset festival.

But Noel said: “Michael Eavis has never called up and asked if Oasis will play Glastonbury.”

He refused to totally rule out any prospect of a reunion, saying: “It’s always like this. At the end of the interview some guy will say, ‘I’ve got to ask...’ And I reply: ‘If, if it was happening, do you really think I’d let the world know by telling you?’”

Taylor Swift's parents are the only ones who think she's a good songwriter, according to Noel Gallagher.

The former Oasis star is one of the most outspoken people in the music industry and has taken potshots at some of the biggest pop stars around in a new interview.

He slams the genre for being "f**king awful" and "bland nonsense", claiming if it was a colour it would be beige. And he's also not a fan of Taylor.

"Who says that? Her parents?" he told Rolling Stone magazine, after the interviewer commented that people believe the 25-year-old singer is a talented songwriter. "Name those people. That's bulls**t. You're f**king lying. She seems like a nice girl, but no one has ever said those words, and you know it."

Next in the firing line were British boyband One Direction. They are one of the biggest groups in the world at the moment, but Noel just finds that depressing.

"I know Harry Styles. We've hung out a couple of times. They're lovely lads. But I've got to say, I have difficulties with people who don't write their own songs, who've got a team of songwriters who work for your record label," he said, after which he was reminded that many Motown stars operated in this way too.

"If you're trying to insinuate that what's going on now is akin to what was going on at Motown - what, were you out late eating magic mushrooms? Not equivalent. Not in the slightest."

It wasn't all doom and gloom though, with the star also discussing some people he admires. Top of the list is Irish rocker Bono, who often gets a hard time as he's seen as a bit worthy. This isn't Noel's experience though, and he even has a nickname for the U2 musician.

"Of all the people I know, he's the most fun to hang out with, for sure. He's a funny f**ker, and he can drink. And he's got big ideas - for his band and for my music as well, which is astonishing. He's always giving me titles for songs and albums. I call him Father Bono," he said.

Everyone has an opinion on Kanye West at the moment, and unsurprisingly Noel was happy to air his. Kanye has just apologised for claiming Beck didn't deserve his best album Grammy this year, and Noel appears to back that.

"He's a character, I'll give him that. And I love his track Black Skinhead. But somebody needs to buy that dumbass a dictionary so he can look up the word 'artistry'. Beck can play the banjo, for f**k's sake. Nobody plays the banjo!" he laughed.

Graham chats to sporting legend David Beckham, Hollywood superstar Will Smith and Australian actress Margot Robbie, who co-star in the new romantic comedy Focus, and Hugh Jackman, soon to be seen acting alongside a CGI robot in the sci-fi adventure Chappie. Noel Gallagher provides the music, performing his new single Ballad of the Mighty I, and there are more audience stories from the red chair

Noel Gallagher has spoken to the current issue of Q about the Sex Pistols 'Never Mind The Bollocks' album.

He said "Well, it changed everybody's life. When I see these Top 100 LPs lists I think it really should be number 1 for many, many reasons. The main one being that if that album and that band hadn't happened you wouldn't be doing what you're doing now. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing . The person that signed me wouldn't be doing what he was doing and your editor, he wouldn't be doing what he's doing now. They gave a shot in the arm to the youth. And on top that, if you listen to it now it sounds like it was recorded tomorrow. It bring back excellent memories for me of learning to swear. I remember I had to buy it on tape to hide it from my mum because of all the swearing. Their social impact and all that, I was a bit too young to be honest, but what a f*cking great band!"

He added "That 'Definitely Maybe' is even mentioned in the same bracket as 'Never Mind The Bollocks' is staggeringly flattering. If you're looking at a young person's life, both records are equidistant, 'Never Mind The Bollocks' is the angst of the '70s and 'Definitely Maybe' is the joy of being on the dole in the '90s. They both fall from the same tree, for sure."

Bradley Wiggins has spoken to the current issue of Q about Oasis debut album 'Definitely Maybe'.

He said "It sounds cheesy now but the album that changed my life was 'Definitely Maybe' by Oasis. I was 14 and that song 'Rock 'N' Roll Star, with the lyrics, 'I live my life in the city/There's no easy way out.' I grew up in London and that's how I felt. It meant a lot to me."

Noel Gallagher has been speaking about the name of his new album 'Chasing Yesterday' that is released on March 2.

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News he said “Dreadful, isn’t it? Let me explain how this has come about.”

A women from his label told him ‘We need a title by three o’clock cos it’s going up on iTunes for pre-order’, “I said, ‘What time is it now?’, and she said ten past one.

“I scanned the lyrics to pick something out and there’s a line that in the context of the song is about somebody saying to somebody else, we should stop chasing yesterday and look to the future, man.

“But I didn’t realise until I’d seen it on its own, ‘Hmm, it doesn’t scream joy to me’. But I blame it on a really ******** heavy tequila hangover I had. I called them up and asked if there was any chance I could change it; they said no, it’s already gone.

He added “In my defence I will say this: it’s only a title, and titles are not important because you would have to go a ******* long way to find something worse than (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?.”

If this album has a weak point, then its title can be the only culprit. Mainly because it implies a hint of nostalgia - something Noel says he still doesn’t have (“I’ll watch the History channel,” he laughs, “but I don’t hark back to the good old days because I prefer living in the now. There’s only two important days in the week and that’s today and tomorrow.”).

An extended interview with Noel is in the latest edition of CityLife, inside Friday's M.E.N.

Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds are playing Manchester Arena on March 9. Tickets are still on sale, priced £35-£70.

Noel Gallagher has been speaking about his new album 'Chasing Yesterday' that is released on March 2..

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News he said "The last record was very cinematic and choral, and this is a little bit darker.," he says.

“If the last record was a very expensive film with a strong narrative from start to finish, like a really brilliant movie, this is a collection of songs and like a brilliant TV series.

“Like Match of the Day,” Noel laughs. “Match of the Day 2, as a matter of fact.”

He added “There were big gaps in the record before where that saxophone ended up,” Noel laughs. “I just had the idea one day, ‘What about a saxophone?’, and the guy came down one day and played it and that was it.”

When questioned What would 1994 Noel think of it? he replied “Initially he would have resisted it. But I would have convinced him within quarter of an hour. I’d have said, ‘******* hell mate, don’t be a square. Get a ******* saxophone in, you daft ****’.”

An extended interview with Noel is in the latest edition of CityLife, inside Friday's M.E.N.

Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds are playing Manchester Arena on March 9. Tickets are still on sale, priced £35-£70.

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News he said he’d do it “in the morning, if somebody puts half a billion pounds in my bank account. That’s not million; billion. Sterling. I’m there.”

He admitted he's enjoying his solo carear “When you’re writing lyrics for someone else to sing, it can be a bit tricky - particularly with Liam because you’d show him lyrics for a song and he’d go, ‘Is this about your ******* bird?’,” .

“I’d be like, ‘Let’s have a look ... erm, no. Just pretend it’s about your bird’. Now, with the songs I write, I’m free to get as personal or vague or existential as I like. I’m not a slave to anyone.”

An extended interview with Noel is in the latest edition of CityLife, inside Friday's M.E.N.

Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds are playing Manchester Arena on March 9. Tickets are still on sale, priced £35-£70.

Noel Gallagher has been speaking about losing touch with his Manchester now that he lives in London.

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News he said “It’s always in your heart and it’s always in the memory bank,” .

“Do I still feel connected? I still feel connected to the football club and I still feel connected to the people.

“But when I go up there at the weekends, there’s a different kind of head case up there and it’s like a Disneyland - it’s like being in a theme park for lunatics. It is mental.”

The track, While The Song Remains The Same, was inspired by a walk Noel used to take every week through the city centre. “How that song came about was I was coming up to see (Manchester) City 18 months ago,”

“I used to live on Whitworth Street and on a Saturday I would do this specific route, walk around the shops to see my mates that worked at the shops, and then walk back to the flat.

“That Saturday 18 months ago when I was up there, I thought, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to do that walk again because I haven’t done it since I was in my 20s’.

“At every turn, the landmarks of my life had gone. And I was shocked. Pubs that used to be there were health clubs and restaurants, and some of the buildings aren’t there. And there’s a whole other part of the city built after the IRA bomb.

“It was like, ******* hell, I kinda don’t recognise it any more. When I got back to London my wife asked why I was so sad about it, and I told her it was because I would have liked to do that walk with my sons and shown them where I played for the first time, or this was the Hacienda.”

An extended interview with Noel is in the latest edition of CityLife, inside Friday's M.E.N.

Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds are playing Manchester Arena on March 9. Tickets are still on sale, priced £35-£70.

Following its initial AW14 success, adidas Originals x SPEZIAL returns this season with an offering that boasts 11 apparel pieces and seven footwear styles.

Born out of a collectors exhibition in 2013, the range is curated by three-stripe obsessive turned brand consultant Gary Aspden, and utilises adidas Originals’ long standing leisurewear sector.

For SS15 the line remodels authentic pieces via premium materials and contemporary silhouettes; standouts include the S.T.9 rain jacket in Climastorm and the 4-pocket Haslingden anorak in a waterproof organic ETA. Elsewhere a cardigan by the name of Freizeit gets reworked in a luxury Italian Herringbone and the Beckhenbauer tracksuit translates to navy.

Otherwise-nostalgic shoe styles are married up with modern features to create new hybrids; the Albrecht SPZL takes notes from the adidas Leisure series and the Waterproof SPZL was inspired by the brand’s debut Gore-Tex leather.

First screened at the ICA earlier this month, a short by Nick Griffiths and &SON Film accompanies the collection (available to watch below); it sees a young guy adorned in the latest collection journey from Munich to the home of Adi Dassler in Herzogenaurach, mirroring Asdpen’s own tour of the adidas archives.

The film is scored by Oscar winning composer Atticus Ross, Gone Girl, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Ross models the new collection alongside Jagwar Ma, Noel Gallagher et al.

Click here to read part two of an interview with Noel Gallagher for entertainment.ie, he talks about his writing process, getting older and why going to the gym in Los Angeles turned him off public gyms forever.

Liam Gallagher took to Twitter earlier today to declare Kanye West “Utter shit” after his performance at the Brit Awards in London.

He then added a second diss “And you’re a million miles away from College Dropout. That’s artistry.” before making a recommendation. Gallagher told Kanye to “check out Lee Mavers,” who’s best known as the singer/guitarist of English pop-rock band the La’s.

25 February 2015

Noel Gallagher releases his second solo album on Monday, and it seems some parts of it find the frontman and former Oasis guitarist in slightly nostalgic mood.

Not only is his latest High Flying Birds record called Chasing Yesterday, it also features a song inspired by Manchester and the streets he used to knock about in when Oasis were still trying to get noticed.

The track, While The Song Remains The Same, was inspired by a walk Noel used to take every week through the city centre. “How that song came about was I was coming up to see (Manchester) City 18 months ago,” Noel exclusively told The Diary.

“I used to live on Whitworth Street and on a Saturday I would do this specific route, walk around the shops to see my mates that worked at the shops, and then walk back to the flat.

“That Saturday 18 months ago when I was up there, I thought, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to do that walk again because I haven’t done it since I was in my 20s’.

“At every turn, the landmarks of my life had gone. And I was shocked. Pubs that used to be there were health clubs and restaurants, and some of the buildings aren’t there. And there’s a whole other part of the city built after the IRA bomb.

“It was like, ******* hell, I kinda don’t recognise it any more. When I got back to London my wife asked why I was so sad about it, and I told her it was because I would have liked to do that walk with my sons and shown them where I played for the first time, or this was the Hacienda.”

Noel was talking to the MEN ahead of his headline show at Manchester Arena on March 9. Tickets are still on sale, priced £35-£70.